The main difference between the EC2 launch type and the Fargate launch type in AWS ECS lies in how the underlying infrastructure is managed:
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EC2 Launch Type:
- With the EC2 launch type, you manage the underlying EC2 instances that host your containers.
- You are responsible for provisioning, configuring, and managing the EC2 instances within your ECS cluster.
- You have more control over the EC2 instances, including the ability to customize the instance type, configure networking, install software, and manage security updates.
- You pay for the EC2 instances based on their instance type, usage, and any additional AWS services used (such as EBS volumes, Elastic IPs, etc.).
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Fargate Launch Type:
- With the Fargate launch type, AWS manages the underlying infrastructure for you, and you do not have to provision or manage EC2 instances.
- Fargate provides serverless compute for containers, allowing you to run containers without worrying about the underlying servers.
- You specify the CPU and memory requirements for your containers, and Fargate provisions the necessary compute resources to run your containers.
- Fargate automatically handles tasks such as scaling, availability, security patching, and infrastructure maintenance.
- You pay for Fargate based on the vCPU and memory resources allocated to your containers, as well as any additional AWS services used (such as networking, storage, etc.).
In summary, the EC2 launch type gives you more control over the underlying infrastructure but requires you to manage EC2 instances, while the Fargate launch type abstracts away the infrastructure management, providing a serverless experience for running containers. Your choice between EC2 and Fargate launch types depends on factors such as control requirements, management overhead, cost considerations, and workload characteristics.
